The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1887-05-15
HE WOULDN'T DIE.
she Married him with that Expectation
He Deceived her WofuIly.
N..,r Wnrll

| DAN fRANCISsO- May "a detailed
and interesting account of the remark
able marriage contracted by a young
lady of wealth and social standing with a
poor consumptiye printer. for the ex-
press purpose of attaining the blessed
state of widowhood, is printed 10y the
Examiner. of this city. The young lady
is Miss Lily +. Brown. of Oakland. On
coming of age. last October. she receiv-
ell a fortune of $50 900 from her father ;
estate. The possession of this money in
spired her with "A desire To enjoy life
freed from the restraints imposed upon
young spinstcrs 10y social conventional
titles.
While living at the Brunswick House.
in Oakland, she proposed 10 friend, a
widow also stopping there, that they
take "A pleasure trip to the Yosemite to-
| gether. The widow assented, suggest
ing that if they could both travel as
widows their enjoyment of the trip
would he greatly enhanced. "A widow, "
she slyIy insinuated. ''can go about with
| freedom. fiirt and have lots of fun; but a
young girl has To be So careful" Mrs.
Brown was greatly taken by the idea.
Black would certainly become her
blonde beauty. she knew. If one could
a wife. she sighed.
| Another friend. Capt. Richard Apgar,
who lived with his wife at the hotel,
was taken into the ladies confidence.
| When apprised of the ambition of the
young heiress, he laughed and said:
why, nothing could be easier. There
are hundreds of men dying in San Fran
| cisco all the time. Ill find you one.
| The would be widow hailed the captains
brilliant idea with delight. He proved
as as good as his word. Going to
DIR. Anson \. Du Puy, a friend of his,
he asked that physician if he knew of a
man not likely to live more than a cou-
| Pile of weeks who would be willing TO
marry "A rich maiden desirous of chang
ing her life To that of "A charming young
| widow.
Il have just the man., said DIR. Du
Puy. Frank KcKee. young printer,
whom am treating for consumption
is almost dying. Only your young lady
will have To hurry the nuptials, for he
may not live two days" Next day the
| marriage was performed at the doctors
| office 10y a Justice of the Peace. After
the ceremony the almost unconscious
groom was taken back home and put to
| bed.
Since then his bride has been impa-
L e.. L. n Sl. hos
even provided sums amounting To 81 900
| to defray the expenses of his supposedly
short remaining span of life and of a
| first-class funeral when he died. DIR. Du
Puy's interesting patient, being provided
with all the luxuries and delicacies he
| craved, out of the money, has evinced IA
| strange and persistent inclination To dis
appoint all the expectations built upon
the strange marriage. So far from dy-
| ing he has grown stout and strong, and
| evidently has no intention of immed-
lately departing this vale of tears.
Meeting his bride on the streets few
weeks ago, he assured her of his abiding
| love and expressed a desire that his hap
piness should he crowned by their living
| together To this Mrs. Mckee returned
an indignant refusal. Though the un-
reasonable man insisted ON living in vio-
lation of the understanding that he
should die speedily she did not dare to
resist his appeal for funds. The secret
of the marriage was well kept all this
| time, though blackmailer had tried TO
bleed the heiress by threats of making it
public. On appealing to counsel she
found that she could do nothing to ex-
| tricate herself from the dilemma. While
her husband lived she was his wife, and
although she could refuse to live with
him she could not obtain a divorce.
\ reporter, calling on Mrs. Mckee to-
day, witnessed strange scene. There
was soft knock ON the door, and the
lady, rising to open it, much to her sur
prise, was confronted by her husband.
He slid into chair with a weary, re-
morsefuh look. His wife Withdrew to a
few feet, and surveying the intruder
angrIly demanded in icy tones:
What do you want here. sir:' Before
he could reply Mckee was seized with
violent fit of coughing. At this Mrs.
McKee's face frightened. Hope shone
in her eyes. But the light died out as
Mckee regained his composure, and it
appeared that the spasms We're merely
the consequence of a quid of tobacco
having lodged i'm his throat.
Il just wanted to let you know that /
had nothing to do with putting it in the
papers," he said i'm a contrite tone. With
an exclamation of disgust Mrs. Mckee
seated herself on an ottoman. obviously
waiting for her unwelcome spouse To CO.
His jet black curls and pale, sad face. lit
by mournful eyes of tenderest hazel, eyi-
IDENTIFY did not interest her. On his part,
settling himself in his chair, Mckee con-
tinued to gaze for several minutes with
an expression of wrapt but woful devo-
tion on the reed-like form of his young
bride. Rising at last, he held out his
hand and said ''good-by."
''Good-by." she answered coldly and
without noticing the proffered hand. In
another moment he was gone.
Boiler ExpIosion-One Life Lost.
RICHMOND, Va, May l4.-At few